When talking about inequality in the criminal-justice system, we often focus on the war on drugs, crooked cops or the prison-industrial complex. But insiders know there is one part of America’s legal system that has an outsized influence on convictions, sentencing and incarceration:

Local prosecutors.

Here are a few facts that bear witness to the oft-forgotten power of local prosecutors:

On Tuesday, voters in Philadelphia decided to do something about it when they selected Larry Krasner to be district attorney with nearly 75 percent of the vote.

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This was a stunning victory by a man known for taking on civil rights cases and suing the Philadelphia Police Department. Krasner ran on a platform of criminal-justice reform and ending mass incarceration that inspired local activists and made others call him “unelectable.”

But he is just a prosecutor, not a judge or a legislator, right? What could he do?

Krasner has decided to use his prosecutorial discretion in unprecedented ways. He promised to never ask for cash bail for a nonviolent offender, which is perfectly legal and up to the prosecutor’s office. Cash bail has long been derided as a for-profit system that penalizes poor people before they are convicted of a crime.

The new prosecutor says that he will no longer seek the death penalty; nor will he seize any defendant’s assets until after a conviction has been made. Krasner also plans to steer cases of drug possession and nonviolent offenses toward treatment programs, and he says that he will seek to end the drug war by treating drug use as a medical problem.